Couldn't find an actual thread for Plasdwr, so I thought I'd make one.As it's on my doorstep I'll try to post regular updates and photos of the development.

At present Phase 1A is being undertaken, which is basically the plot of land east of Clos Parc Radyr, the scheme comprises 126 homes (10x affordable 1/2 beds, 53x 3beds, 48x 4beds and 15x 5beds) and occupation of the first homes is due to be in October 2017.

First photo update (13 July 2017)

Plots 1 & 2 (nearing completion)

Plots 3 - 9 (at foundation level)

Plots 10 - 13 (various stages)

That last photo shows the crescent shape that is being created at the main entrance to the scheme:

When Plasdwr was first proposed I argued - against most of the other CWM forumers - that a rail line should be built first. I told Mark Barry that it was madness to build all of these homes - plus another couple of thousand at Creigau - without improving public transport. Mark never replied to my post.

In London, Barking Riverside involves building 10000 new homes on brownfield land. Only 2000 have been built so far as it is a stipulation that public transport - specifically a four mile extension of the London Overground - must be constructed before the 8000 remaining homes are built.

Why has London made public transport a key component of this development while Cardiff, with much more to lose if Plasdwr et al have the expected effect on congestion, has just let Redrow begin with zero improvements to public transport?

Cardiff Council don't have the balls to make developers pay towards transport infrastructure. I'm amazed that developments like Plasdwr and Churchlands have no transport provision apart from some fantasy about thousands of people cycling to work or the odd bus route.

Rail or tram schemes should be incorporated into massive housing developments before they're agreed. There's no other realistic option for Plasdwr apart from sitting in traffic for hours which just isn't acceptable.

Lets get this straight now - Plasdwr will no way be completed in its entirety. I dont think its possible - in terms of funds, infrastructure and public backing. The whole LDP is way behind schedule. 20,000 homes will not be completed by 2026. 8 years to build 18,000 homes?

A quick whinge. It's not a big thing but it does highlight a systemic problem about how what are essentially new suburbs are named.

Plasdwr is in some ways a perfectly okay name, distinctive and Welsh while being easily pronounacable for non-Welsh speakers. It's essentialy meaningless though.

The name derives from "Y Wettral" the name of a farm that stood roughly where Ysgol Plasmawr is today. When the school was built as an English-medium comprehensive it was named "Waterhall" - a near homonym of "Y Wettral" although the meanings are different.

Now, some distance from the original farm, we have Plasdwr, or should that be Plas Dŵr, a slightly clumsy Welsh translation of the 1960s English homonym.

There's a loophole here that means while developers have to seek approval for street names, it's not recquired for the 'marketing names' of new developments. Those names tend to stick though and, in this case, that's a pity as other, more deeply rooted names could have been chosen. Crofft y Genau, Rhydlafar and Tai Hirion are obvious alternatives.

People get used to anything over time, of course, but it seems a pity that the naming of new suburbs is left to the whim of the developer.

moyceyyy wrote:Lets get this straight now - Plasdwr will no way be completed in its entirety. I dont think its possible - in terms of funds, infrastructure and public backing. The whole LDP is way behind schedule. 20,000 homes will not be completed by 2026. 8 years to build 18,000 homes?

NOPE.

It doesn't matter if it's behind schedule or if it takes longer than planned. The point is that if the local authority was serious about their Metro project, they'd have made provisions *before* embarking on new housing estates, not ignore it, with a view to possibly making a half-arsed attempt at crowbarring some compromise into place in the future when they get around to it.

What does this say about the attitude to The Metro project if they can plan a huge housing development to the west of the city near St. Fagans, but not bother even considering any plans for reopening a line that's already effectively there, let alone planning anything new?

Simon__200 wrote:What does this say about the attitude to The Metro project if they can plan a huge housing development to the west of the city near St. Fagans, but not bother even considering any plans for reopening a line that's already effectively there, let alone planning anything new?

What concerns me is that on early plans of Plas Dwr (and of the development north of J33) there was a clear note marking that the old railway line was to be safeguarded to allow future reopening as an extension to the City Line.On more recent plans of the developments, this land is not being safeguarded, it's being shown as a cycle route, and many of the properties appear to be encroaching on the land, making it almost certainly not get built!